Chapter 4

8:15pm Friday Evening.

"This meeting of the Nekomi Tech Motor Club will now come to order." With those words, Sora Hasegawa opened the meeting. "The first item on the agenda is the financial report."

Hasegawa reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out the report and with a mildly disgusted look on her face that gave away the anticipated bad news, read it. "The incoming balance from last month was 200,000 yen. Income: 2,000 yen from the weekly drawing; 10,000 yen from club dues; 100,000 yen from the win over Chiba University in last week's go-kart race; and finally, 50,000 yen from the school festival karaoke concert put on by the Motor Club. Total income, 362,000 yen."

A loud shout of approval came from Tamiya and Ootaki, however Keiichi figured out that the other shoe was about to drop and make a very loud noise when it did.

Sora gulped and continued. "Expenses: 150,000 yen for the damages caused to the athletic field due to it being burned up by the post- karaoke concert fireworks; 65,000 yen for the celebratory beer and sake which mysteriously disappeared from the go-kart race victory party, 80,000 yen in returned dues to the people who quit the club because of the missing beer and sake. Also we owe the Gardening Club 65,000 yen for the damage done to their greenhouse when Tamiya's go-kart got out of control and crashed into it. Total expenses: 360,000 yen. Current balance: 2,000 yen."

The happiness showed by Tamiya and Ootaki quickly gave way to misery. Tamiya grumbled "So whadda we gonna do wit' two t'ousand yen?"

Chihiro shouted " I wanna know what the hell happened to the beer and sake!" The two looked at each other sheepishly and admitted "Well, uh, we drank it!"

Chihiro screamed all the louder "What, You two idiots drank 65,000 yen worth of beer and sake and didn't invite me? I thought I taught you better than that!"

"Sorry Chihiro, we wasn't t'inkin'."

"Damn straight, you wasn't t'inkin!" imitated Chihiro as she glowered at Tamiya and Ootaki with pure hatred in her eyes.

Keiichi then asked "Well, how are you guys gonna raise money?" knowing that he wasn't going to like the answer because it was inevitably going to involve him.

Ootaki said "Glad you asked, Morisato, my man." He then pulled out a piece of paper from his jacket pocket and handed it to Keiichi. It was done up in the usual garish Motor Club style and Kei knew it was going to be trouble as soon as he touched it. He read "Announcing the First Annual Nekomi Tech Auto Club Blindfolded Gas Powered Unicycle Race starring the Champion of Nekomi Tech, Keiichi Morisato!"

Keiichi's eyes grew as big as coffee saucers as he yelped "WHAT?" You want me to ride a gas powered unicycle blindfolded in a race?"

Ootaki said "Yeah, you'll take on all challengers and we'll charge people to watch as well as compete. We'll make a ton of money! You'll do it for the honor of the Motor Club, won't you Morisato?" He said in a semi-threatening tone. The two bullies moved in to shake Keiichi down for his consent, but were stopped by a suddenly very unhappy Belldandy who stood between them and Keiichi. She had been listening quietly to the conversation, and normally she would enthusiastically approve of any idea the Club came up with, but this latest stunt was too much even for her. She glared into both men's eyes and said with finality, "I will not allow Keiichi to participate in this race! It is not safe and I will not stand for him being hurt because of the Motor Club!"

Against his better judgement, Tamiya defiantly stood up to the goddess. "If I'se remember correctly, you ain't a member of the Club, Belldandy. So ya ain't got no say in tha matter!"

Chihiro immediately interrupted "Oh, yes she does!, You two goons forget that Belldandy did a lot for the Motor Club over the years! Who made you guys lunch and served you tea while you were working on your projects? Who singlehandedly won the Economy Race for the Motor Club? Who drove the go-kart against Diana Lockheed? Who wore those stupid race queen outfits when you were trying to get members? If I was told correctly, it was Belldandy."

Tamiya and Ootaki felt about 3 inches tall. But Chihiro wasn't done.

"Just to show you who really wears the pants in this Club, I'm invoking my Founder's Privilege and making Belldandy a full member, with all rights and privileges in appreciation of her service to the Motor Club."

Belldandy said "Chihiro, I appreciate your gesture in coming to my defense, but it isn't necessary. I enjoyed helping out the Club, it was a lot of fun, but I don't want Keiichi to be involved in this race. You don't have to make me a member of the Club."

Chihiro would hear nothing of it. "Nonsense, Belldandy. If you don't ride herd on these two clowns, they'll run all over you. Something you, of all people, should have learned, Morisato!"

Ootaki suddenly brightened up, "Okay, then if we can't get Morisato, maybe, uh, Ha-se-ga-wa? he slowly turned to leer at Sora who turned a deathly shade of white and was looking for an escape route. "Ohhhhh, no! You guys aren't getting me up on that thing. No way!"

Tamiya brusquely reminded her "You're da president of da Club, Hasegawa. You gots ta set the example for de youngah members." He and Ootaki were ready to jump on Sora until Belldandy intervened once again, but instead of gently talking them out of their decision, she merely knocked them out with a discreetly cast sleep spell. The two awoke a half hour later with no recollection of trying to badger the frightened girl into doing their crazy stunt.

There was other minor business to be covered, but the proceedings quickly gave way to the real reason for being there, and that was: gorging on Belldandy 's wonderful cooking; getting blind stinking drunk; and singing astoundingly bad karaoke. Somehow, a case of beer and sake materialized from out of nowhere. Also no matter how much of the fish stew was eaten, the pot never ran out. And while Keiichi didn't own a karaoke machine, Skuld was only too happy to oblige bringing out her latest invention: The Super Magnificent Frank Sinatra Karaoke Master Machine No. 15. Inside of an hour, Tamiya and Ootaki were taking turns wailing into the karaoke machine some fractured tune about what a man's gotta do, and mixing it with the Motor Club Anthem. The result of which was truly awful.

Sora Hasegawa was drunk after three beers and had pinned Keiichi in the corner on yet another of her continual rants concerning her lack of height and womanly features,

"K-e-e-i-i-i-c-h-i, Y-you think I'm cute don't you?" Hasegawa slurred while pushing up against the petrified Keiichi. "I'm not a h-high s-school girl. My boobies are just as big as Belldandy's, D-don't you think so?, well, don't you?" She complained while rubbing up against him. Of course having never seen either Belldandy's or Sora's breasts uncovered, Kei was not in a position to make a comparison. "Well, Hasegawa." Keiichi blubbered, "I c-can't really say o-one way or the other." Oh, crap! If Belldandy sees this she's gonna have a fit, please go away Hasegawa-a-a-a-!

He tried to get away, all the while hoping and praying that Belldandy didn't see what was going on but the hysterical Hasegawa blocked him at every turn. "That settles it, I g-guess I just have to show you!" Sora whined. She pulled up her shirt and was about to give Keiichi an eyeful, when Belldandy came to her beleaguered man's rescue. "Sora dear, can you come outside with me, there's something I need to show you." Belldandy said sweetly while at the same time smoothly and firmly guiding the drunken girl away from Keiichi, who breathed a very large sigh of relief. He thought to himself, "I gotta get outta here, or else I'll go crazy!"

Chihiro, Urd, and Megumi were sitting in another corner getting royally smashed and Meg kept telling the other two girls embarrassing stories about Keiichi, which gave Urd and Chihiro plenty of ammunition that could be used against him if he didn't do what they wanted. Megumi pulled out a picture of Keiichi and showed it to the others. "And here's a picture of Kei when he was in elementary school. He even had that dorky look back then!" Chihiro said "Aaaaaww, isn't he the cutest!" Chihiro had a thing about all things cute, whether it was bikes, boys or kitties.

Skuld was able to use her growing goddess power to make three half gallon tubs of premium Rocky Road ice cream appear from nothing and was happily sitting at the dinner table wolfing down the creamy confection as fast as she could shovel it into her mouth.

Meanwhile, Keiichi found Belldandy. "Bell, why don't you and I find someplace where we can be alone. All this craziness is freaking me out." Bell was only too happy to take advantage of Keiichi's offer. "Yes, Keiichi, I think that would be a really good idea, we haven't had any alone time in a while.", she smiled. And they took advantage of the chaos to slip away and spend some quality time together. There in the quiet of his room, Kei and Bell sat on the floor with their arms round each other looking at the full moon through the window and reminiscing about past adventures and generally enjoying each other's company. She leaned up against him with her head on his shoulder, a contented look on her face. Keiichi said "Thanks for standing up for me back there. I really appreciate it."

Bell snuggled up closer to Keiichi and said "It was nothing. I didn't want you to get hurt, that's all."

Keiichi looked at Belldandy and asked her, " Do you remember the first road trip we took with the Motor Club and Ootaki and Tamiya tried so hard to keep us separated? They kept sending me out on those training runs on the ATV's and I never had the chance to spend any time with you."

Bell answered, "Yes, I remember it well. I put that note in your room and made the words invisible so that only you could read it." Keiichi then said "And then we met at the lighthouse and you were so happy to see me that you tackled me and sent me flying into the ocean." Bell laughed and replied "I wanted to be with you so badly that I got a little carried away. I guess I get like that sometimes." Keiichi said "Yes, you do. You've never been one to hide your feelings."

Belldandy said evenly "Well, I believe that if you love someone, you should always let your feelings about that person be out front so the whole world can see them." Her face brightened, "I've got one! Do you remember when I got sick and you kept mixing up Urd's medicines to find an antidote and you ended up turning yourself into a girl?" Bell giggled. Keiichi groaned and said "You had to bring that one up didn't you?"

"Yes, I thought you looked so cute."

"You're the only one who did. Thank goodness Ootaki and Tamiya never saw me like that, I'd never hear the end of it."

"We've had a lot of fun times together, Keiichi. I never thought that living with a human could be so exciting."

" I could say the same thing about living with a goddess."

"Or three."

"Or four when Peorth decides to pop in."

"True."

Bell then looked at Keiichi with a slight look of concern on her face. "Keiichi, do you ever regret having Skuld and Urd here living with us?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because, although they mean well, they do get in the way. And sometimes I think that you aren't as happy with them around as when we were here alone. I could send them back if you told me to."

Keiichi weighed his words carefully so as not to upset Belldandy. "First of all Belldandy, I'd never tell you to do anything. You're my goddess, not my slave. Bell, I'd be lying if I said that there were days that I wished they'd go back to Heaven. They can be a pain in the butt. I know that Skuld loves you so much and can't bear to see me taking you away from her. And Urd is the exact opposite, she's so bent on getting us together that she goes way overboard. But at the same time, Skuld and Urd are your sisters. You love them and they love you in their own special way. It's like me and Megumi. She can be annoying, but in the end she is still my sister and I have to love her and take care of her.

I can never ask you to send your sisters away anymore than I could ask Megumi to go away. We just have to learn to live with each other, and you and I will have to take advantage of times like this to spend time together." Keiichi chuckled. "Now if you can arrange for Yggdrasil to have the occasional minor meltdown so that Skuld and Urd have to respond...?"

Belldandy half scolded,"Oh, Keiichi!" and playfully slapped him on the shoulder.

"Bell?"

"Yes?"

"Close your eyes and open them only when I say so."

Belldandy closed her eyes and Keiichi got up and quietly padded over to his clothes drawer and picked out a special article of clothing that meant a lot to him. He put it on and then said "Ok Belldandy, open your eyes."

Bell opened them and exclaimed " You're wearing the sweater I knitted for you! How sweet!" One chilly fall day, Belldandy had noticed that Keiichi was outside working on his bike and he was shivering. So she decided to knit him a sweater to keep him warm. It took her three days away from classes to finish the garment, and despite never having knitted before, as usual with almost everything Belldandy undertook, it turned out perfect. It was cream colored with blue diamonds on the torso and sleeves. On the right sleeve she knitted the letters K1 after Keiichi's name. She locked her feelings about her man into every stitch. She never had a chance to present it to Keiichi in person due to Sayoko Mishima's interference, but it eventually found its way into his hands. And the look of appreciation on Keiichi's face was one that Belldandy would never forget. And he never felt the cold while he wore that sweater. He walked back to Bell and sat down next to her. She lovingly put her arms around him and held him tight and nuzzled her head against his shoulder. She caressed the soft yarn of the sweater, felt the warmth coming from his body and sighed contentedly.

"I love you, Keiichi!"

Keiichi smiled and though to himself "I love you too, Belldandy. One day, I'll have the guts to tell you, but until then, I'll have to show my feelings in other ways."

Keiichi knew that this could have been a perfect time to explore the possibility of moving their relationship forward somewhat, at least on a physical level, but he also remembered Belldandy's words about taking time for the relationship to grow and not rushing things. Still, he wondered what it would be like to make love to a goddess.

That thought had conveyed itself to Belldandy who could still read his mind on a limited basis. One day, Keiichi, my love, she thought to herself, you will find out.

After a while, Keiichi said "So Belldandy, how do think the party's going, the place must be a mess by now."

No answer.

"Bell."

Nothing.

"Belldandy?"

He looked down at his goddess and she was fast asleep, head still against his shoulder, arms still wrapped tightly around him. He could hear her silent breathing. A stray strand of hair across her face. Keiichi thought "Even in sleep, she's so beautiful."

He put his arms around Belldandy and held her tenderly, as if she was like a china doll, kissed her on the forehead and watched her as she slept. It was a long day for the goddess, preparing meals, doing chores, making sure that Keiichi and her sister's needs were met, and on top of it all acting as the gracious host of a hastily thrown party. It was only right for her to deplete a lot of energy. He looked out the window and silently thanked the Almighty for allowing this woman, this goddess to come into his life. "She does so much for me, it's just not right." As he was watching the night sky, he saw one particular star flash brightly for an instant, as if the Almighty was saying "you're welcome."

After a while, he too succumbed to the call of sleep.

The next morning, Urd was busy in her lab preparing hangover medication for the gang. Because she used sake as an alternative energy source, and had a tolerance for the stuff that only a goddess could have, she was the least affected of everybody there. The Tea Room looked like a Skuld-bomb went off in a bar with bodies stacked on top of each other like cordwood. The odor of stale beer and sake hung like a thick fog through the temple. Skuld was sitting at the dinner table surrounded by half gallon ice cream containers, trying to ignore her aching tummy. Megumi and Chihiro were still sitting in the corner passed out leaning up against each other. Somehow, Tamiya and Ootaki ended up outside in the courtyard with Banpei, Skuld's watchman robot continually whacking them with his staff trying to get them to wake up. Sora was further out in the courtyard near the Tanuki statue alternately complaining to it and flashing it. And being a statue, the Tanuki showed no reaction whatsoever. All in all, a typical night with the Motor Club.

Keiichi woke up a little bit woozy. The clock said 9:30 am, Saturday morning. He didn't remember drinking all that much. He spent most of the night in his room with Belldandy. He looked through the window at the sunlight streaming in and thought to himself, at least it's going to be a nice day. He stretched out his arms, gave a big yawn, and dropped them to his side. His right arm fell on something soft yet firm. Startled, he looked to see where his arm landed and almost lost it when he found his hand on a sleeping Belldandy's naked upper thigh. Bell had fallen asleep curled up next to him and her sundress, while already fairly short had ridden up quite a bit, affording Keiichi an eyeful of his girlfriend's long and very shapely legs. He also noted that she had the good sense to put on a pair of underwear, although the sight of the alluringly brief and lacy French cut bikinis plus the fact that he wasn't completely awake yet caused his heart to skip a beat.

"YAAAAAAAGH!" his scream resonated all through the temple.

Urd sauntered into Keiichi's room to see what the trouble was. She said "Kei, can you keep it down, people are trying to slee...Whoo-hoo-hoo! Hmm, Keiichi, is that you got up to last night?" Urd cooed with a lascivious tone in her voice. "We were wondering where you two went. Congratulations Keiichi Morisato, you are now a man! I am impressed! And without any help from me either."

"Urd, cut it out. Nothing happened last night"

"Bell? Bell. Wake up. It's morning."

No answer.

"Belldandy?"

"Hmm?"

"Wake up Belldandy, it's morning."

Bell stirred next to Keiichi, opened her eyes, and took one look at him and his wayward hand and then looked at the clock.

"Oh No! I'm late. Everyone's waiting for me to fix breakfast. I'm so sorry, Keiichi. Please forgive me!" Bell cried as she got her bearings together.

"Don't worry, Belldandy" Keiichi said "Everything's all right. With the exception of you, me, Urd and, I think Sora, everyone else is still asleep. Take your time getting ready. Do you remember what we did last night?"

Belldandy sorted through her thoughts and then said "Well, I remember we were sitting here in your room. We had our arms around each other and we were looking out through the window at the full moon and talking about all the great times we've had over the years. You put on the sweater I made for you. I guess that I used up a lot of power last night with the cooking and the entertaining of our guests, that I ended up going into a dormant phase and went to sleep. But I did get to sleep in the arms of the one I love." Belldandy closed with a contented giggle.

Keiichi blushed and asked "There's nothing else you remember?"

"No...why do you ask?"

"Urd, here thinks that we had gotten up to no good."

"Gotten up to no good?" Bell asked, clearly not knowing what that phrase meant.

" She thinks we did something we shouldn't have done."

"Did we?"

" No, Belldandy. We didn't do anything other than what you said. See, Urd, nothing else happened."

"Too bad." Urd said "You had a chance to really move your relationship ahead, but you didn't take it. I don't know whether to pity you for blowing the chance or commend you for showing such restraint. Either way, I'm going to get the rest of the Sleeping Beauties up and about. Don't let Skuld see you two like that, she'll hit the roof and the last thing a bunch of hungover drunks want to hear this time of the morning is that mouth of hers at full blast. I suggest that Belldandy leaves first and Kei, you leave about 5 minutes later.

"Hmm, That's the difference between you and me, Belldandy. If it were me and Keiichi in a room all alone, I would have been all over him." Urd winked at Bell and shuffled off towards the Tea Room.

Chapter 5

10am Saturday Morning.

Belldandy got herself sorted out, and quietly went off to the bathroom to take a bath and change clothes. Keiichi grabbed a clean shirt and pants out of his clothes drawer and waited for the bathroom to clear so he could get cleaned up. While he was waiting, his mind drifted back to last night. Was Urd right? Did I blow the best chance I'd ever have of getting intimate with Belldandy? Was Bell giving me the green light, but I was color blind? He grabbed the picture of Belldandy standing next to the temple bell in that very sundress she wore last night, and as was his custom, he looked at it for a few moments, and then kissed it. Maybe a little longer than usual.

Meanwhile, Belldandy was sitting in the hot bath relaxing. Like a traditional Japanese bath, she scrubbed herself clean with a bucket and soapy hot water before lowering herself into the bath to soak. It was during this time of day, that Bell would think about the day's events, and what she had to do, as well as what she was going to prepare for Keiichi. She thought about making a Western style breakfast for Keiichi today. She tried that once before, and he liked it a lot. Obviously the temple had to be physically and ritually cleansed. All the drunken debauchery that occurred last night would not be good for the temple's vibrations. She started to think to herself as well. Am I denying Keiichi that which he clearly wants most? Am I being selfish in withholding myself from him? Is it time that I finally allow myself to clear that final hurdle that prevents me and Keiichi from getting intimate? And by denying him this intimacy, am I violating my first function of a goddess which is to bring happiness to all I encounter? His happiness is supposed to come before mine. But Keiichi would never want to be happy if I have to suffer. And most of all, am I interfering in the natural course of the relationship if I continue to hold back? Or am I interfering if I move ahead?

In the course of being employed by the Goddess Assistance Agency, Belldandy had fulfilled wishes that she may have personally found distasteful. It didn't happen all that often because Yggdrasil matched goddesses to wishes based on their basic compatibility with the wish in question. But Yggdrasil being as buggy as it was, occasionally the mammoth computer had a hiccup in its programming that would assign Belldandy to "problem" cases.

In those rare cases where she was required to fulfill a wish or a client that she wasn't thrilled about, she had the ability to divorce her personal feelings about the client and the wish in question from her job. She provided the best service she could, which in most cases was much better than the client expected or deserved, and then once the wish was fulfilled and the contract satisfied, she went on to her next job. That was part and parcel of being a Goddess First Class with an Unlimted Second Category license.

That license she held was the license of a field goddess, which meant that she had the authority to go to Earth and make contracts with humans. As opposed to a First Category license like Skuld and Urd possessed. They didn't have the authority to contract with humans and really weren't supposed to be on Earth in the first place.

There were no moral hangups in Belldandy's mind about fulfilling those wishes, because she was not subject to human morality. Unless it was a wish that directly threatened the Earth, she could not refuse to grant it. It was part of the job.

But now she had a contract with a human who's happiness was directly tied to hers. Keiichi would never be happy as long as Belldandy was unhappy. And vice versa. This is the first contract of this type she had encountered.

She didn't expect to fall in love with Keiichi when she first met him in that dorm room years ago. She just figured that he would wish for something more mundane like a million dollars, or a brand new car, or that he could be irresistible to Earth girls. She could knock out a wish like that with her eyes closed, and be on her way in a few minutes or a day at the most. But he had to come up with a crazy wish like "I'd like for a goddess like you to stay with me always!" Who'd come up with a outlandish wish like that?

Then after submitting the request to Yggdrasil, she assumed that wish would be kicked out in a heartbeat because it was just plain impractical, unprecedented, and maybe even unenforceable in the fullness of time. After Yggdrasil approved the wish, and she was stuck here on Earth for the time being, she thought that she would go along and do what he asked in order to fulfill the contract. Be cheerful, put on the happy face, play the good little goddess. After all, that was what her job was all about, right? And maybe after a few weeks or months on Earth which is merely a tiny slice of time in Heaven, he'd get bored with her or feel that she fulfilled enough of his wishes and desires that he'd send her back.

But no. She had to get the one guy in the world that was totally selfless, and put others happiness before his own.. The one guy who actually cared about her feelings and wants. The one guy that wanted to share his life with her. The one guy who was most like her. And then she had to fall in love with him.

Keiichi did more for her in those few short years than all the time she spent in Heaven. He taught her, a mighty goddess, about life as a frail, mortal, limited human. Through his humanity, he helped her to become a better goddess. Through his strengths, he showed her her weaknesses and flaws. And even when those flaws manifested themselves, sometimes in quite destructive and ungoddess-like ways, he never turned her away. He never turned his back on her. He accepted and loved her unconditionally. That touched Belldandy.

And tipped her attitude from just staying around to fulfill the contract to wanting to spend her life with him.

When Urd became the Lord of Terror and she threatened the Earth with destruction, Keiichi didn't turn and run like any other human. He stood up to the Lord of Terror, even to the point of containing the Lord of Terror himself until the goddesses were able to vanquish him.

When the Angel Eater had stolen her angel as well as the angels of Urd, Peorth, and one of the twin angels of the warrior goddess, Lind, It fell to Lind, Skuld with her tiny angel, Noble Scarlet, and Keiichi to fight off the beast. Kei even showed the ability to support and deploy Lind's remaining angel, Cool Mint. No human had ever shown that power. He was even able to host that demonic familiar implanted in Belldandy by the head of Demonkind, Hild after Bell had turned that familiar into an angel..

That situation didn't go nearly as well, but the fact that the familiar latched herself to Keiichi was remarkable just the same.

This human, This Keiichi Morisato, though unassuming and ordinary in appearance had something about him that intrigued Belldandy. The love and respect he showed her. The willingness to put up with the antics of Skuld, Urd, and Peorth. The almost god-like powers that he sometimes manifested. Keiichi Morisato was no ordinary human. What other human could hear the song of the Lorelei, or fix the intricate parts of the Machiners? What manner of man was this Morisato?

Bell still had a lot of thinking to do, but she had spent almost 45 minutes in the bath and she still needed to get some kind of breakfast on the table. She climbed out of the tub, dried herself off and conjured up a blue and white long billowy housedress and a white ribbon for her hair. She left the bathroom and as she passed Keiichi's room she said " Keiichi, the bathroom's clear if you want to use it. I'll have breakfast ready by the time you get out.

"Ok, Belldandy. Are you alright?"

"Yes, Keiichi. I'm fine. She smiled. "It was a lot of fun spending time with you last night. I really enjoyed our night together. We have a lot to talk about over the next few days."

With that she walked down the hall towards the kitchen.

Keiichi wondered about that last sentence. "We have a lot to talk about over the next few days?, What does that mean?"

Chapter 6

11am Saturday Morning.

Despite Belldandy's late start on preparing breakfast, nobody complained. Most likely because they weren't really sober enough to put two sentences together. Chihiro finally came to, stumbled into the bathroom to wash her face. She then went out into the courtyard and rounded up Tamiya and Ootaki, who were cowering against the wall with Banpei angrily waving his staff at them. She then went over to the Tanuki and convinced Sora that the badger statue totally agreed with her viewpoint and would she please put her top back on. After she got her bedraggled bunch of drunks in one place, she then went back into the kitchen and spoke with Keiichi and the goddesses.

"Keiichi, thanks for letting us have our meeting here. We had a great time, and once again, Belldandy was the perfect hostess."

Belldandy apologized about the lateness of the breakfast for the third time in ten minutes and then added "I'm glad you enjoyed yourselves. Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun. We must do it again sometime."

Chihiro responded "I'm sure we will. Hey, I noticed that you and Keiichi weren't hanging out with the rest of us." With a sly grin, she said "Were you two off k-i-s-s-i-n-g?"

Urd, always game to put Keiichi in hot water, piped up "Oh yeah! They were going at it hot and heavy! I'm surprised that Kei is still standing after the night they had."

Keiichi stammered "H-hey, you're embarrassing Belldandy! We did spend the night together, but absolutely nothing happened, right, Bell?"

Belldandy thought about playing along with Urd and Chihiro, but decided against it. "No, nothing happened at all. Although I did fall asleep in his arms."

Chihiro mused "Well, that's a start. We'd take you up on the breakfast offer, but I'm dragging these losers back to the campus and putting them to bed. They don't have classes today. Also we've been in your hair long enough. See ya on Monday, Morisato. "

Chihiro collected her Motor Club charges and drove them back to campus.

Annoyed, Keiichi grumbled " At least they could have offered to help clean up this place. It's a mess."

Looking around, he wasn't wrong. There were ice cream containers, sake and beer bottles all over the Tea Room. Futons were scattered all over the floor. Skuld's karaoke machine was laying on its side, the song, "I Did it My Way" playing continually. The floors were sticky with spilled sake. And the place smelled like a bar.

Belldandy said "Keiichi, let me handle this." She stood up, waved her arms in a precise flowing gesture and intoned "Spirits of the wind, sweet breath of spring. Hear my call and come to my aid. Cleanse this hallowed place and restore this room to its former beauty!"

A rushing wind blew through the open window, and picked up all the trash on the floor.

A stray gust stacked all the futons in a neat pile, another swept all the bottles into the trash and righted the karaoke machine.. A third carried away the stench of the sake and beer and left a fresh smell of spring flowers and new mown grass in his place. Thirty seconds later, it was impossible to tell that a full-blown booze-up had occurred just hours before.

Belldandy dropped her arms and said "Now that's much better!"

It was at that time Megumi finally woke up. She roused herself out of the corner she had sat in all night, shook the cobwebs out of her head, wandered over to the table where Kei, Bell, and Urd were eating breakfast, and said groggily " Morning. I'm not feeling too hot, so I'll pass on breakfast. I'm heading straight home. Thanks for letting me hang out." She staggered out the door towards the garage where she kept her bike. Belldandy wondered aloud "I hope she'll be all right."

Keiichi said "She'll be OK, I've seen her in worse shape than that. At least she slept a good bit of it off. She doesn't need a DUI on her record. I'm surprised she passed on breakfast. She never met a meal she didn't like, especially one of Belldandy's."

Urd got up and headed out of the Tea Room "I better go and find out what our little Skuld has gotten herself into. She was eating ice cream like there was no tomorrow. I might have to make up some medication to treat an upset tummy. Ciao, guys."

Belldandy and Keiichi sat in the Tea Room eating their breakfast. Bell had prepared a Western style spread consisting of omelets, pancakes, toast with butter, tea, and jam, and fresh fruit. Any ill effects Kei suffered from the beer and sake immediately went away once he started digging into the food. "Ok, Bell. Last night, you said that we some things to talk about. What's the matter?"

Bell took a sip of her tea and said " While I was in the bath, I was thinking about some things. I was wondering if you think that my holding back on our becoming more intimate is hurting our relationship. Do you think that I'm being selfish in denying you something that you clearly desire? I never want to do anything that would take away from your happiness. I really want to become closer to you. But I don't feel ready to make such a sudden change just yet. I'm a Goddess First Class, and I'm supposed to do all I can to fulfill the contract between us, and as long as any part of that contract remains unfulfilled, I have failed in my mission."

Keiichi looked Belldandy straight in the eyes and said with all the seriousness he could muster. "Belldandy. Forget the contract! If it didn't mean that you'd have to go back to heaven, I'd release you from this damn contract. The contract is no longer the primary reason you're still here. You told me that and now I'm reminding you.

" I would never force you to do something you're not ready to do. I admit that I have thoughts about becoming more intimate with you. Some of those thoughts get pretty intense. But never would I act on those thoughts until you were ready. You are NOT being selfish by holding back. I can only be happy when you're happy. And making you do something that you clearly are not prepared to do would not make you happy and it would not make me happy. What did you tell me yesterday? A mighty oak has to grow from an acorn. There will come a day when the time will be right. I can wait until then because when it finally happens, it will be well worth the wait for both of us."

A tear came to Belldandy's eyes. "Keiichi, I don't deserve you." Keiichi came back "And I don't deserve you, I guess that makes us even, right?" Belldandy's laugh sounded like a pure note of a fine silver bell.